This map shows where 42 of the greatest American novels took place

Some of the best novel writers say they can't begin a tale until they know the place around it. So it's no surprise that best stories take you on a journey to a place, evoking the sights, sounds, smells, and feel of their setting.

In a recent conversation between Jennifer Egan and George Saunders (two very good contenders for the best American authors right now) hosted in the New York Times Magazine, Egan said that her entry point into writing fiction is "almost always place: a sense of an atmosphere, a location. I tend to have that before I have the people or even the language."

Setting matters, it helps define why something happens and how people respond to it.